For the quarter ended Jan. 28, the operator of Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s posted net income of $745 million, or $1.74 a share, compared with $667 million, or $1.55 a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, the department store retailer earned $1.70, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.65.

Although online sales are included in comparable store sales, the company noted that its “online sales positively affected the company’s same-store sales by 1.7 percentage points in the fourth quarter.”
Gross margin narrowed to 41% from 41.3%.

The company plans to spend about $850 million on capital expenditures this year, including new Macy’s stores in Salt Lake City, and Greendale, Wisconsin, as well as five new Bloomingdale’s Outlet locations.